Shriver’s contentious views on diversity thread through the story of a couple’s strained relationship with exercise

Lionel Shriver’s scabrously funny 15th novel presents a dyspeptic view of people in thrall to exercise. In 2013 Shriver’s own daily regime involved “130 press-ups, 200 side crunches, 500 sit-ups and 3,000 star jumps … The jumps take 32½ minutes, or three every two seconds”. The Motion Of The Body Through Space was written, she recently revealed, after she realised that she may be more dedicated to her exercise than to her writing.

The protagonist, Serenata Terpsichore (“rhymes with chicory”), is a 60-year-old woman from upstate New York with a beguiling voice and ruined knees. The former she puts to lucrative use as a voiceover artist and narrator of audiobooks. The latter are the result of a lifetime’s adherence to the doctrine of working out; in particular the belief that 10-mile runs are the key to longevity and good health.

Around the 19-minute mark, I noticed something odd; it wasn’t that I felt any less out of breath than normal, but I felt detached

Mindfulness is the last thing I want to practise while running. When I’m really up against a wall (which is to say, after four minutes), the only thing that keeps me going is listening to Maniac and imagining I’m that gorilla in a paddling pool. So I approached this with a closed mind, and discarded a lot of podcasts because they were too woo-hoo, or because you had to listen to them before you run (“no headphones” is a typical mindful runner’s instruction), or because the person had an annoying voice. Finally, I settled on The Milestone Pursuit podcast, by a likable blokey Londoner, Steve Hobbs. He didn’t sound at all spiritual; he sounded like a person who would help you with your bike if your chain came off.

He has one mindful episode that I’ve listened to seven or eight times. Total convert. But full disclosure: I’ve never got to the end. It lasts 36 minutes, and I still don’t run for that long. So it’s partly suspense that keeps me going back.

Is it all moot because of the deadly virus infecting Australia and no I don’t mean the National party ahahaha

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• Alex Wurz calls measures to deal with coronavirus ‘immaculate’
  
• ‘F1 can be pioneer’ for other sports to follow, says GPDA chief

The Grand Prix Drivers’ Association is confident the precautions being taken by Formula One mean the sport stands every chance of resuming as planned in Austria on 5 July.

Alex Wurz, chairman of the GPDA, will reassure his members that Formula One has put the safety of everyone involved at the forefront of its plans to return to racing after attending a meeting with F1 and the FIA on Friday.

The morality brigade loathed the hit teen horror on release but hockey mask-wearing villain Jason Voorhees has been with us ever since

Before production on the teen slasher A Long Night at Camp Blood had even started, before a final draft of the screenplay had even been submitted, thirtysomething writer-producer-director Sean S Cunningham decided to make an audacious statement. Not only would he use an advert in the industry paper Variety to confirm an inarguably ingenious title change but he would also use it to declare that his next film would be the most terrifying ever made, after a decade that saw The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Last House on the Left (which he also produced), The Exorcist and Halloween.

Related: Final Destination at 20: the bleakest teen horror film ever made?

With more Australian artists being asked to play for free in the lockdown, many are asking if it might do more harm than good

If live music died in mid March, it’s sure been noisy at the funeral. On platforms old and new, live gigs performed at home have streamed from trickle to tidal wave, breaking over the mobile devices of captive audiences. Global gig guide aggregator Bands In Town has added a livestream dropdown, and a new Australian state has been ceded by Eventfinda and tucked alphabetically between Victoria and Western Australia: the state of “Virtual”.

For fans it’s been fun. We’re loving seeing musicians’ pets and plants and enormous fingers fumbling for the flip screen button and, unless we’ve bought a URL ticket, there’s scandalously little to lose by dropping into, and out of, a show.

When the coronavirus crisis hit, Yolngu elders moved back to east Arnhem Land homelands where they found freedom, peace, and power

• This is part two of a four-part series about Indigenous caretakers of culture in the time of coronavirus
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Adapting to change is something Yolngu are good at, senior Rirratjingu songman Witiyana Marika says.

When the coronavirus first started making news, community leadership met to plan how they would manage if Covid-19 arrived in eastern Arnhem land. Senior men and women met with the emergency taskforce, the local Miwatj health service and the Laynhapuy homelands organisation to take the most vulnerable people further away from risk.

The European Space Agency said Friday that human urine could one day become a useful ingredient in making concrete to build on the moon.

Coronavirus: The symptoms

The singer and her management company have worked with the charity Crisis

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The 7 Rings singer sang all six parts of the classic ballad

The actor and his wife Sabrina both tested positive for Covid-19 last month

The fundraising veteran has released a charity single with Michael Ball

Singer Marianne Faithfull has been discharged from hospital after being admitted for treatment while she displayed symptoms of coronavirus.

The two-year-old got very creative with her mum's make-up...

The pair were previously spending the lockdown period at Hague's family home

Actor Tom Hanks has sent a letter and a Corona-brand typewriter to a eight-year-old Australian boy who said he was being bullied because of his name.

The presenter died after suffering a stroke

Paul Mescal stars in the BBC's adaptation of Sally Rooney's acclaimed novel

Hesmondhalgh said she did a "decent job" of playing Corrie's first trans character - but would not take the part now

The course of true love never did run smooth, after all

What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas - but the pictures will make it to Instagram

The resemblance is uncanny

The assassin breathes new life into the meaning of a killer wardrobe

The Keukenhof Flower Exhibit showcases over 800 varieties of tulip

The pubs might be closed but that doesn't mean you're flying solo. From virtual meet-cutes to Zoom dinner dates, Katie Strick gives love a chance

From the best of the Welsh coast to the perennial beauty of the Scottish Highlands

The CEO has said a free middle seat is 'one' of the options being explored

Inside the darker side of Instagram

Emma Glass's book set in an isolation ward is both terrific and timely. She talks to Katie Law

There's a nerdy website that I sometimes look at when I'm bored. It's called routesonline.com, and in staccato sentences it lists every schedule change by almost every airline around the world. "Air Senegal adds London to Freetown Service from late June 2020" — that sort of thing.

While it's important to stay connected, juggling work and distractions such as Instagram should not be another thing to worry about

As a funeral director, Isabel Potter had been planning her mother's funeral since her third cancer diagnosis, but when the time came the coronavirus pandemic turned these plans upside down

Designers have begun the shift to virtual wedding dress fittings

The over-arching advice is that less is always more

Malorie Blackman, Lee Child and Philip Pullman are among the first five essayists published

The sleep-focused app has raised £9.6 million for its mission to bring mindfulness to children

To celebrate World Earth Day, the British brand has created an edit of its SS20 collection made from recycled and bio-based materials

Health experts have reissued guidelines on the supplement as the population faces more time indoors

Today marks the start of human drug trials, as beating Covid-19 becomes a global effort. Susannah Butter reports

Expert advice from a professor in health sciences

Expert skincare advice is just a click away

It's boom time for CBD as the capital looks for ways to relax in lockdown. Phoebe Luckhurst has a bluffer's guide to mellowing out

When truth is stranger than fiction

The clinical psychologist is the first mental health professional to start using TikTok

It's the first European airline to make face masks mandatory for passengers

The Pixel 3a was a big hit, can the 4a follow that lead?

Boris Johnson and Carrie Symonds have welcomed a baby boy, could 'Asher' or 'Milo' be on the cards?